When this C-grade exercise in Gothic horror was first released in 1969, I doubt The Oblong Box enticed many fans of the genre. Forty years on, despite the first-ever pairing of Christopher Lee and Vincent Price, the movie just looks cheesy, absurd and entirely un-scary.
Produced by the UK arm of Sam Arkoff’s schlock factory American International Pictures, it’s loosely based on an Edgar Allan Poe short story. Price is Julian Markham, who keeps his badly disfigured brother Sir Edward (Alastair Williamson) locked up in his gloomy 19th-century English manor-house. It appears Sir Edward was mutilated by savages some years earlier when the brothers were in Africa, for reasons which are revealed towards the end.
Corrupt lawyer Trench (Peter Arne) and an itinerant witch doctor slip Edward a potion that places him into a death-like coma. Believing he’s croaked it, Julian arranges his burial in the oblong box of the title, and forces Trench to procure another body – initially live – to make locals think it’s Edward: it’s the family tradition to have the deceased lying in state. Then grave robbers dig up Edward’s body and sell it to the unscrupulous Dr Neuhartt (Lee), who revives him. Blackmailing the doctor into sheltering him and his face hidden behind a crimson hood, Edward sets out on a vengeful spree.
The corpses mount, unlike the tension. The dialogue is dopey, often laughably bad, and the acting is as wooden as that oblong box. Price and Lee have one brief scene together, and it isn’t memorable. A minor sub-plot sees Julian improbably marry his stunning fiancée Elizabeth (Hilary Dwyer), who looks around 30 years younger.
It’s all as fake as the blood that splatters the numerous victims. However the film isn’t particularly gory or violent, so I’m puzzled by its R rating. Most of the blame for this tame effort must be sheeted home to director Gordon Hessler, who took over after Michael Reeves, who made The Sorcerers (1967) and Witchfinder General (1968), died from an overdose of barbiturates during pre-production. Minimal extras comprise selected scenes and the theatrical trailer.
